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Dr Bettina E. Schmidt MA, PhD, DPhil habil

Bettina Schmidt

Contact Details

School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies
Tel: 01570 424 912 (4912)
E-mail: b.schmidt@trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

Location

Sheikh Khalifa Building


Campus

Lampeter Campus

Job Title

Senior lecturer in the study of religions


Role in the University

  • I lecture at both UG and PG level
  • Director of Graduate Studies (Research Students)

Background

  • Dphil habil (habilitation) in Anthropology, Philipps-University Marburg, 2001
  • PhD in Anthropology, Philipps-University Marburg, 1995
  • MA in Anthropology and Religious Studies, Philipps-University Marburg, 1989

Academic Interests

  • Spirit Possession
  • Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian religions 
  • Religious Experience 
  • Religion and Migration/Diaspora


Publications

  • ‘When the gods gives us the power of ashé’ –Afro-Caribbean Religions as Source for Creative Energy. In: Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production, ed. by Carole M. Cusack and Alex Norman. (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion series) DenHague: Brill, 2012,  pp. 445-461.
  • O espiritismo porto-riquenho como fundamento da identidade porto-riquenha. In: Espiritismo e Religiões Afro-Brasileiras: História e Ciências Sociais, ed. by Artur Cesar Isaia and Ivan Aparecido Manoel. São Paulo: UNESP, 2012, pp. 163-175.
  • 'Anthropological Reflections on Religion and Violence', in: Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence, ed. by Andreas Murphy. Oxford: Blackwell, 2011. pp. 66-75.
  • Spirit Possession and Trance: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies series), co-edited with Lucy Huskinson. London: Continuum, 2010.
  • ‘Possessed Women in the African Diaspora: Gender Difference in Spirit Possession Rituals’. In: Spirit Possession and Trance: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies series), ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lucy Huskinson. London: Continuum, 2010, pp. 97-116.
  • ‘Meeting the Spirits: Espiritismo as Source for Identity, Healing and Creativity’. Fieldwork in Religion Vol. 3.2 (2009), pp. 178–195.
  • ‘Spirit Possession in Haitian Vodou’. In: The Devil’s Children: From Spirit Possession to Witchcraft: New Allegations that Affect Children, ed. by Jean La Fontaine. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009, pp. 91-102.
  • Caribbean Diaspora in the USA: Diversity of Caribbean Religions in New York City. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2008.
  • ‘Oshún visits the Bronx – Possessed Women in the Cuban Orisha Religion.’ Diskus, The Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, vol. 9 (2008). http://www.basr.ac.uk/diskus/diskus9/schmidt.htm

Books

  • 2010, co- edited with Lucy Huskinson Spirit Possession and Trance: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies series). London: Continuum
  • 2008 Einführung in die Religionsethnologie: Ideen und Konzepte. [=An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion]. (Kulturwissenschaften) Berlin: Reimer Verlag.
  • 2008 Caribbean Diaspora in the USA: Diversity of Caribbean Religions in New York City. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate (a revised and shortened English version of Karibische Diaspora in New York).
  • 2007, edited Dossier: African Cultures in Spanish America / Culturas Africanas en Hispanoamérica (INDIANA, Vol. 24). Berlin: Ibero-Amerikanisches Archiv. pp. 7-231.
  • 2006, edited:    Kulturelle Reaktionen auf AIDS und HIV. Multidisziplinäre Blicke auf den Umgang mit AIDS und HIV-Infizierten. Cultural Responses to AIDS and HIV: Multidisciplinary views at the interaction with AIDS and HIV-patients. (Curare, Vol. 28, 2+3). Berlin: VWB Verlag. pp. 121-358.
  • 2003, co-ed. with Lioba Rossbach de Olmos: Ideen über Afroamerika - Afroamerikaner und ihre Ideen. Beiträge der Regionalgruppe Afroamerika auf der Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde in Göttingen 2001 [=Concepts about Afroamerica - African American and their ideas. Papers of the regional group ‘Afroamerica’ at the Conference of the German Association of Anthropology in Göttingen in 2001]. (Curupira Workshop, 9). Marburg: Curupira.
  • 2003, edited: Wilde Denker: Unordnung und Erkenntnis auf dem Tellerrand der Ethnologie; Festschrift für Mark Münzel zum 60. Geburtstag, unter Mitarbeit von Michael Kraus, Heike Thote und Stéphane Voell (Curupira, Vol. 14). [=Wild Thinker: Disorder and Insights on the edge of Anthropology; Book in honour of Mark Münzel for his 60th birthday] Marburg: Curupira.
  • 2002 Karibische Diaspora in New York: Vom »Wilden Denken« zur »Polyphonen Kultur« [=Caribbean Diaspora in New York: From »wild thinking« to »polyphonic culture«] Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.
  • [an English version of this book, shortened and revised, will be published under the title Caribbean Diaspora in USA: Diversity of Caribbean Religions in New York City. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate]
  • 2002, co-ed. with Ulrike Krasberg: Stadt in Stücken. [= Shattered Cities] Marburg: Curupira.
  • 2001, co-ed. with Ingo W. Schröder: Anthropology of Violence and Conflict
  • 2000, co-ed. with Lioba Rossbach de Olmos: Standpunkte: Afroamerika im interdisziplinären Dialog. Beiträge der Regionalgruppe Afroamerika auf der Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde in Heidelberg 1999. [=Points of View: Afroamerica within an interdisciplinary dialogue. Papers of the regional group ‘Afroamerica’ at the Conference of German Association of Anthropology in Heidelberg in 1999]. Marburg: Curupira.
  • 2000, with Sol Montoya Bonilla: Teufel und Heilige auf der Bühne: Religiosität und Freude bei Inszenierungen mestizischer Feste in Südamerika, mit einem Vorwort von Mark Münzel. [=Devils and Saints on Stage: Religiosity and Humor at performances of Mestizo Festivals in South America] Marburg: Curupira.
  • 2000, co-ed. with Mark Münzel and Heike Thote: Zwischen Poesie und Wissenschaft: Essays in und neben der Ethnologie. [=Between poetic and science: essays in and beside Anthropology]. Marburg: Curupira.
  • 1998, co-ed. with Mark Münzel: Ethnologie und Inszenierung: Ansätze zur Theaterethnologie. [=Anthropology and Performance: Approaches in Anthropology of Theatre]. Marburg: Curupira.
  • 1998, co-ed. with Lioba Rossbach de Olmos: Das afrikanische Amerika: Beiträge der Regionalgruppe Aroamerika auf der Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde in Frankfurt am Main 1997. [=The African America: Papers of the regional group ‘Afroamerica’ at the Conference of German Association of Anthropology in Frankfurt in 1997]. Marburg: Curupira.
  • 1995 Von Geistern, Orichas und den Puertoricanern: zur Verbindung von Religion und Ethnizität. [=About Spirits, Orishas and Puerto Ricans: The Relationship between Religion and Ethnicity] Marburg: Curupira.(European Association of Social Anthropologists). London/New York: Routledge.

Articles in Books and Journals

  • 2010 Possessed Women in the African Diaspora: Gender Difference in Spirit Possession Rituals. In: Spirit Possession and Trance: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies series), ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lucy Huskinson. London: Continuum, pp. 97-116.
  • 2010, with Lucy Huskinson Introduction. In: Spirit Possession and Trance: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies series), ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lucy Huskinson. Continuum, pp.1-15.
  • 2009 La novela corta Concierto barroco de Alejo Carpentier como símbolo de la cultura caribeña en Nueva York. In: REVER, Revista de Estudos da Religião, Vol. 9 (1): Religiões Afro-brasileiras: diálogos culturais e hibridações, pp. 97-114. http://www.pucsp.br/rever/rv1_2009/i_schmidt.pdf
  • 2009 Meeting the Spirits: Espiritismo as Source for Identity, Healing and Creativity. In: Fieldwork in Religion Vol. 3.2, pp. 178–195.
  • 2009 Spirit Possession in Haitian Vodou. In: The Devil’s Children: From Spirit Possession to Witchcraft: New Allegations that Affect Children, ed. by Jean La Fontaine. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 91-102.
  • 2009 The presence of St. Patrick in Haitian Vodou: The rebirth of a Catholic Saint in the Caribbean. In: Rethinking the Sacred: Proceedings of the Ninth SIEF Conference in Derry 2008, ed. by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Kathleen Grant. Abo: Abo Akademi University, pp. 63-73.
  • 2008 Loas. In: Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. 2nd Edition, editor in Chief: Joseph S. Tulchin. Farmington Hills: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
  • 2008 Ein ethnologischer Kommentar zu ‘Feste in Geschichte und Gegenwart’. In: Erwägen. – Wissen – Ethik Vol. 19, 2, pp. 245-246.
  • 2008 Oshún visits the Bronx – Possessed Women in the Cuban Orisha Religion, In: Diskus, The Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, vol. 9. http://www.basr.ac.uk/diskus/diskus9/schmidt.htm
  • 2008 Afrika in Amerika – Wie Ochún die Sklaverei überlebte. Über die Ausbildung eines kollektiven Gedächtnisses während der Diaspora. In: Humboldt, 2008, pp. 72-74.
  • 2008 Polyphonic Bricolage – Caribbean Religious Cultures in New York City. In: Rituals in an Unstable World: Contigency – Hybridity - Embodiment, ed. by Alexander Henn and Klaus-Peter Koepping. Frankfurt/ New York: Peter Lang, pp. 185-203.
  • 2008 The Many Voices of Caribbean Culture in New York City. In: Constructing Vernacular Culture in the Trans-Caribbean, edited by Holger Henke and Karl-Heinz Magister. Lanham: Lexington Books, pp. 23-42
  • 2007 Afro-Peruvian representations in and around Cusco: a discussion about the existence or non-existence of an Afro-Andean culture in Peru. In: INDIANA Vol 24, pp. 191-210.
  • 2007 African Cultures in Spanish America. An Introduction. In: INDIANA
  • 2007 Misuse of a Religion: Vodou as Political Power Rooted in ‘Magic’ and ‘Sorcery’. In: Diskus, The Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, vol. 8. http://www.basr.ac.uk/diskus/diskus8/schmidt.htm
  • 2007 A Antropologia da Religião. In: O espectro disciplinar da Ciência da Religião, ed. by Frank Usarski. São Paulo: Paulinas, pp. 53-95.
  • 2007 Der karibische Karneval in New York City [=The Caribbean Carnival in New York City]. In: Festliche Reise durch die Welt: Das Schützenfest und andere Rituale, ed. by Kerstin Brünenberg and Günter Bernhardt on behalf of the Westfalian Museum Office. Münster: LWL-Museumsamt für Westfalen, pp 68-75.
  • 2006 Geschlechterdifferenzen bei karibischen Religionen: Zur Relevanz von Priesterinnen bei der religiösen Heilung. [=Gender Differences in Caribbean Religions: Relevance of Priestesses for Religious Healing] In: Krankheit und Heilung (Gender – Symbol – Religion, Band 4), ed. by Bernhard Heininger and Ruth Lindner. Münster: Lit. Verlag, pp. 87-109.
  • 2006 The Creation of Afro-Caribbean Religions and their Incorporation of Christian Elements. A Critique against Syncretism. In: Transformation: An International Dialogue on Mission and Ethics Vol. 23, Nr. 4, pp.236-243.
  • 2006 The Power of the Spirits: The Formation of Identity based on Puerto Rican Spiritism. In: REVER, Revista de Estudos da Religião Vol. 2, ano 6. Special issue: Modernidade, Pós-Modernidade e Religião: Debates, Desafios, Perspectivas, pp. 127-154. http://www.pucsp.br/rever
  • 2006 Editorial: Diskurse und Reaktionen auf Aids und HIV. Editorial: Discourses and Responses to AIDS and HIV. In: Curare, Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin und transkulturelle Psychiatrie Vol. 28, 2+3, pp. 123-129.
  • 2006 Afroamerika und Karibik in Deutschland [Afro-America and the Caribbean in Germany]. In: Ethnohistorie: Empirie und Praxis (Festschrift zu Ehren des 65. Geburtstags von Karl R. Wernhart), ed. by Hermann Mückler, Werner Zips and Manfred Kremser. Wien: WUV Universitätsverlag, pp. 363-374.
  • 2006 El dinamismo creativo de la hibridación: Migrantes del Caribe en Nueva York. [=Dynamic creativity of Hybridization: Caribbean Migrants in New York City] In: Un continente en movimiento: migraciones en América Latina, ed. by Ingrid Wehr. Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, pp. 75-87.
  • 2006 Anthropology of Religion. In: II Simpósio Internacional sobre Religiões, Religiosidades e Culturas, UFGD/UFMS, 23 a 26 de abril de 2006, Dourados/MS – Brasil, ed. by Jérri Roberto Marin. [Brasil]: Ipê Multimedia WWW.ipemultimedia.com.br, 10 S. (Compact Disc).
  • 2006 Vodou-Medizin in New York City: Zur Relevanz religiöser Heilung in der Migration [=Vodou-medicine in New York City: relevance of religious healing in migration]. In: Curare Vol. 27 (3), pp. 201-208.
  • 2006 Spiritism. In: Latinas in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia, ed. by Virginia Sánchez Korrol and Vicki L. Ruiz. Indiana University Press, pp. 720-721.
  • 2006 Spiritism in New York City (1950-2000). In: Latinas in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia, ed. by Virginia Sánchez Korrol and Vicki L. Ruiz. Indiana University Press, pp. 721-723.
  • 2006 Fiestas Patronales in the Ecuadorian Andes: The Meaning for the Villagers and the Attitude of the Churches In: Transformation, an International Dialogue on Mission and Ethics Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 54-61.
  • 2005 Wodu (Wudu, Voodoo, Vodou). In: Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Handwörterbuch für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft, vierte, völlig neu bearbeitete Auflage, Band 8: T-Z, ed. by Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning, Bernd Janowski and Eberhard Jüngel. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1673-1675. [the english version of this encyclopedia will be published in 2008]
  • 2005 Brasilidade und andere Kulturmodelle: Kulturkritische Blicke auf Brasilien. [=Brasilidade and other cultural concepts: critical approaches on Brasil] In: Paideuma  Vol. 51: pp. 263-275.
  • 2005 Was hat die US-Flagge im Hochland von Ecuador zu suchen? Religionsethnologische Forschung im Zuge der Globalisierung. [=What does the US flag do in the Highlands of Ecuador? Research in anthropology of religion in the time of globalisation.] In: Journal-ethnologie.de, 05/2005: Schwerpunktthema: Lokales in einer globalisierten Welt. http://www.journal-ethnologie.de
  • 2005 PHC – Primary Health Care. Editorial. In: Curare Vol. 26 (1+2), pp. 5-7.
  • 2004 Hibridación religiosa en Nueva York: Espiritismo puertorriqueño como ejemplo del proceso híbrido [=Religious Hybridization in New York: Puerto Rican Spiritism as example of an hybrid process]. In: Boletín de Antropología (Medellín) Vol. 18, No. 35, pp. 226-243.
  • 2004 Fiestas religiosas en algunas comunidades de la provincia del Azuay, Ecuador. [=Religious festivals in some communities in the province of Azuay, Ecuador]. In: Los Mundos de Abajo y los Mundos de Arriba: Individuo y sociedad en las tierras bajas, en los Andes y más allá. Tomo de homenaje a Gerhard Baer en su 70 cumpleaños, ed. by María Susana Cipolletti. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, pp. 477-487.
  • 2004 Opfer an die Götter als Nährboden religiöser Konflikte: Zum religiösen Alltag afroamerikanischer Religionen in New York City. [=Sacrifices for the Gods as fundament for religious conflicts: Religious daily practices of Afroamerican religions in New York City]. In: Religiöse Minderheiten – Potentiale für Konflikt und Frieden, ed. by Hans-Martin Barth & Christoph Elsas. Hamburg. E.B.-Verlag. pp. 340-351.
  • 2004 Körper und Kultur. [=Body and Culture] In: Von Kopf bis Fuß – Ein Handbuch rund um Körper, Kleidung und Schmuck für die interkulturelle Unterrichtspraxis, ed. by Brigitta Huse. Münster: Wassmuth. pp. 33-38.
  • 2004 Kleidung in Peru: früher und heute. [= Clothing in Peru: past and present] In: Von Kopf bis Fuß – Ein Handbuch rund um Körper, Kleidung und Schmuck für die interkulturelle Unterrichtspraxis, ed. by Brigitta Huse. Münster: Wassmuth. pp. 289-298.
  • 2004 Magie, Akupunktur und Penizillin: Medizinischer Pluralismus bei den Purhépecha. [= Magic, Acupuncture and Penicillin: Medical Pluralism among the Purhépecha] In: Journal-ethnologie.de, 01/2004: Schwerpunktthema: Magie, Akupunktur und Medizin. http://www.journal-ethnologie.de
  • 2004, with Nina Köllhofer Die normierte Haut: Der weibliche Körper im Spannungsfeld von Selbstwahrnehmung und Fremdetikettierung [=The normative Skin: The female body in tension between perceptions of ‘the other’ and ‘the self’]. In: Körper und Identität: Gesellschaft auf den Leib geschrieben, ed. by Elisabeth Rohr. Königstein: Ulrike Helmer Verlag. pp. 198-224.
  • 2004 “Mit der U-Bahn ins Feld”: Der Abschied von Malinowskis einsamer Insel. Feldforschung im 21. Jahrhundert. [=”With the Subway to the field”: Farewell from Malinowski’s lonely island. Research methods in the 21st century]. In: Anthropos vol. 99, pp. 215-222.
  • 2003 The Presence of Vodou in New York City - The Impact of a Caribbean Religion on the Creolization of a Metropolis. In: A Pepper-Pot of Cultures: Aspects of Creolization in the Caribbean (Matatu: Journal for African Culture and Society, 27-28), ed. by Gordon Collier and Ulrich Fleischmann. Amsterdam/New York: Ed. Rodopi B.V. pp. 213-234.
  • 2003 Teorías culturales posmodernas de Latinoamérica (y su importancia para la etnología) [=Postmodern Cultural Theories in Latin America (and their meaning for anthropology)]. In: Indiana: Jahrbuch des Ibero-Amerikanischen Institut Vol. 19/20: pp. 13-35.
  • 2003 Political Correctness vs. Wissenschaftlichkeit? Über den gewandelten Umgang mit indianischen Kulturen im National Museum of the American Indian in New York [=Political Correctness vs. Science? About the new relationship with Indigenous cultures in the National Museum of the American Indian in New York]. In: Museum und Universität in der Ethnologie, ed. by Michael Kraus and Mark Münzel. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 91-100.
  • 2003 Der Umgang mit der Vergangenheit Der atlantische Sklavenhandel im kulturellen Gedächtnis. [=The approach to the past: The Atlantic slave trade and cultural memory]. In: Ideen über Afroamerika – Afroamerikaner und ihre Ideen, Beiträge der Regionalgruppe Afroamerika auf der Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde in Göttingen 2001, ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lioba Rossbach de Olmos. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 13-30.
  • 2003, together with Katharina Greifeld Medizinische Systeme Süd- und Afroamerikas. [=Medical Systems of South and African America]. In: Ritual und Heilung: Einführung in die Medizinethnologie, ed. by Katharina Greifeld. Berlin: Reimer Verlag. pp. 103-132.
  • 2003 El significado de la religión de la santería para migrantes del Caribe en Nueva York. [=The meaning of the religion Santeria for Caribbean migrants in New York City]. In: Emigración Latinoamericana: Comperación Interregional entre América del Norte, Europa y Japon (JCAS Symposium Series), ed. by Yamada Matsuo. Osaka: Japan Center for Area Studies. pp. 95-112.
  • 2003 La imagen violenta de Vodú: la xenofobia en la recepción de la religión haitiana en Nueva York. [=The violent image of Vodou: xenophobia in the reception of the Haitian religion in New York]. In: Sphera Publica: Revista de Ciencias Sociales y de la Comuncación (Murcia, Spain), Vol. 3: La Violencia en la Generación de Culturas Fronterizas. pp. 85-103.
  • 2003 Die Welt der Orichas in New York: Puertorikaner entdecken ihre afrikanischen Wurzeln in der Santería. [=The world of the Orishas in New York: Puerto Ricans discover their African roots in Santeria]. In: Afrika und die Diaspora, ed. by Werner Zips. Münster/Hamburg: Lit. Verlag.
  • 2002 Mambos, Mothers and Madrinas in New York City: Religion as a Means of Empowerment for Women from the Caribbean. In: Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora (New York), Vol. 5 (1): pp. 75-104.
  • 2002 Die therapeutische Seite der haitianischen Religion Vodou in New York City. Therapeutic Aspects of Vodou in New York City. In: Handbuch der Ethnotherapien. Handbook of Ethnotherapies, ed. by Christine E. Gottschalk-Batschkus and Joy C. Green. München: ETHNOMED. pp. 419-430.
  • 2002 Die Osterwoche in Baños, Kanton Cuenca: Notizen zur theaterethnologische Analyse von religiösen Festen in Südecuador. [=Easter week in Baños, canton Cuenca: notes about the performance studies analysis of religious festivals in South Ecuador]. In: Fiesta Latina, ed. by Wulf Köpke and Bernd Schmelz. Hamburg: Museum für Völkerkunde. pp. 138-160.
  • 2002 Schmuggler, Migranten und Nobles: die «verquere» Welt in Cuenca (Ecuador). [=Smuggler, migrants and nobles: the twisted world in Cuenca (Ecuador)]. In: Stadt in Stücken, ed. by Ulrike Krasberg and Bettina E. Schmidt. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 99-125.
  • 2002, with Ulrike Krasberg      Einführung: Ethnologische Perspektiven zur Stadtforschung. [Introduction: Anthropological perspectives of urban research]. In:, ed. by Ulrike Krasberg and Bettina E. Schmidt. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 7-25.
  • 2002 Karibische Religionen und ihre neuen Anhänger in New York City – Über die Verbindung von Religion und Therapie und ihre Relevanz für die Ethnologie. [=Caribbean religions and their new believers in NewYork City – about the relationship of religion and therapy and its relevance for anthropology]. In: Zur Akzeptanz von Magie, Religion und Wissenschaft, ed. by Annemarie Fiedermutz, Franz Pera, Elmar T. Peuker and Florian Diederich. Münster: Lit. Verlag. pp. 183-195.
  • 2002 El desarrollo de la religión yoruba en Nueva York: un acceso a la identidad africana por los afroamericanos. [=The development of the Yoruba religion in New York: access to the African identity of African Americans]. In: Actas: VII Conferencía Internacional de Cultura Africana y Afroamericana, ed. by Yadine Yara González and Zaylen Clavería Centurión. Santiago de Cuba: Centro Cultural Africano “Fernando Ortiz”. pp. 168-171.
  • 2001 The Interpretation of Violent Worldviews: Cannibalism and other Violent Images of the Caribbean. In: Anthropology of Violence and Conflict, ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Ingo W. Schröder. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 76-96.
  • 2001, with Ingo W. Schröder: Introduction: Violent Imaginaries and Violent Practices. In: Anthropology of Violence and Conflict (European Association of Social Anthropologists), ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Ingo W. Schröder. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 1-24.
  • 2001 Die Keramikfiguren der Purhépecha. [=The ceramic statues of the Purhépecha]. In: «... ohne Museum geht es nicht»: die Völkerkundliche Sammlung der Philipps-Universität Marburg, ed. by Stéphane Voell. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 123-136.
  • 2001 Die Geister sind schuld: Spiritismus in Puerto Rico. [=The Spirits are to be blamed: Spiritism in Puerto Rico]. In: Gottheiten, Geister und Schamanen: Heilkunst in Amerika, ed. by Irina Buche. Hamburg: 2a, Akademie freier Autoren. pp. 273-303.
  • 2000 Religious Concepts in the Process of Migration: Puerto Rican Female Spiritists in the USA. In: Women and Migration: Anthropological Perspektives, ed. by Jacqueline Knörr and Barbara Meier. New York/Frankfurt: Campus/St. Martin. pp. 119-132.
  • 2000 Die karibische Diaspora und der West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn, New York. [=The Caribbean Diaspora and the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn, New York]. In: Standpunkte: Afroamerika im interdisziplinären Dialog. Beiträge der Regionalgruppe Aroamerika auf der Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde in Heidelberg 1999, ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lioba Rossbach de Olmos. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 125-142.
  • 2000 Lateinamerikanische Impressionen: Erinnerungen an religiöse Spektakel der Sinne und andere Feldforschungserfahrungen. [=Latin American Impressions: Memory of Religious Spectacle and other Field Experiences]. In: Zwischen Poesie und Wissenschaft: Essays in und neben der Ethnologie, ed. by Mark Münzel, Bettina E. Schmidt and Heike Thote. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 89-107.
  • 1999 Über die veränderte Rolle der Frauen bei den Festen im südlichen Hochland Ecuadors. [=About the changing Part of Women during Festivals in the Southern Sierra of Ecuador]. In: Religion und weibliche Identität: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Wirklichkeiten, ed. by Ulrike Krasberg. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 196-210.
  • 1999 [various terms, e.g. ‘heilig/sacred’, ‘Monotheismus/monotheism’, ‘Polytheismus/polytheism’, ‘Religionsethnologie/Anthropology of Religion’, ‘Synkretismus/sincretism’ and ‘Trickster’]. In: Neues Wörterbuch der Völkerkunde, begründet von Walter Hirschberg. Grundlegend überarb. u. erweiterte Neuauflage. [=New Encyclopedia of Cultural and Social Anthropology, founded by Walter Hirschberg, absolutely new and revised edition], Red.: Wolfgang Müller. Berlin: Reimer Verl. [various pages]
  • 1998 Die Konstruktion ethnischer Identität und ihre Variationsvielfalt in der Karibik. [=The construction of ethnic identity and its variations in the Caribbean]. In: Grenzziehungen – Die Konstruktion ethnischer Identität in der Arena sozio-politischer Konflikte, ed. by Andrea Grugel and Ingo W. Schröder. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation. pp.159-1177.
  • 1998 Religion als kreative Überlebensstrategie: Karibische Migranten in New York City. [=Religion as creative Strategy of Survival: Caribbean Immigrants in New York City]. In: Das afrikanische Amerika: Beiträge der Regionalgruppe Aroamerika auf der Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde in Frankfurt am Main 1997, ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Lioba Rossbach de Olmos. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 43-52.
  • 1998 Der Wandel der Festkultur - Der Tag des Señor de los Milagros in San Juan, in der südlichen Sierra Ecuadors. [= The change of Festival Culture – the Day of Señor de los Milagros in San Juan, in the Southern Sierra of Ecuador]. In: Ethnologie und Inszenierung: Ansätze zur Theaterethnologie, ed. by Bettina E. Schmidt and Mark Münzel. Marburg: Curupira. pp. 295-314.
  • 1998 Heilung mit Hilfe von Göttern und Geistern. [=Healing with the help of Gods and Spirits]. In: Ethnotherapien – Therapeutische Konzepte im Kulturvergleich, ed. by Christine E. Gottschalk-Batschkus and Christian Rätsch. Berlin: VWB. pp. 145-148.
  • 1997 Die Fiestas de la Cruz und der Apostel San Felipe. Über den Zusammenhang zwischen Migration und Religion im südlichen Hochland von Ecuador. [=The Fiestas de la Cruz and the Apostle San Felipe: about the Connection between Migration and Religion in the Southern Sierra of Ecuador]. In: Kea: Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften Vol. 10. pp. 181-204.
  • 1996 El encuentro de los muertos y los orichas: sincretismo en Puerto Rico. [=The reunion of the dead and the orichas: Syncretism in Puerto Rico] In: Estudios sobre el sincretismo en América Central y en los Andes, ed. by Bernd Schmelz and N. Ross Crumrine. Bonn: Holos-Verlag. pp. 33-50.
  • 1995 Towards a new merging: spiritism and the Afro-Puertorican religious culture. In: Horizontes Antropológicos (Porto Alegre, Brazil), 3: pp. 98-104.
  • 1991 Zur medizinischen Versorgung der Purhépecha in Tarecuato, Mexiko. [=The medical supply among the Purhépecha in Tarecuato, Mexico]. In: Curare: Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin 14: pp. 217-220. Vol 24, pp. 9-14.


Additional Information

Professional post (honour)

  • Hon. Secretary of the BASR
  • Member of board of editors of the journal INDIANA
  • Member of the board of editors of REVER, Revista de Estudos da Religião.
  • Member of the board of editors of Diskus, The Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions
  • Organizer of the annual conference of the BASR in 2009, at Bangor University 

Visiting Professor

  • Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Department of Religious Studies, São Paulo, Brazil
  • City University of New York, Brooklyn College, Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, New York, USA
  • Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad, Departamento de Antropología, Cusco, Peru
  • Universidad Complutense, Departamento Historia de América II, Antropología de América, Madrid, Spain

A selection of recent Conference papers

  • August 2010: 'Spirit Possession and Trance in Afro-American religions: Different States or one Condition?' At the Congress of International Association for History of Religion, Toronto, Canada
  • May 2011: 'The Discourse about "Africa" in Candomblé communities in Brazil: How Afro-Brazilian religions create African space.' at the INFORM Seminar, London, LSE
  • June 2011: 'The Discourse about Mediumship, Trance and Spirit Possession in Brazil', at the International Conference on the Comparative Study of Religious Experience in Contemporary Taiwan, Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National Chengchi University, Taiwan 
  • June 2011: 'The "Re-Africanisation" of the Brazilian Religion Candomblé and the Holy War against the African Orixás (gods) in Brazil', at the CESNUR Conference, Taiwan 
  • July 2011: 'The Discourse of being ‘possessed’ in Brazil: speaking about mediumship, trance and possession in Afro-Brazilian religions'. at the Afterlife Research Centre workshop, University of Bristol
  • September 2011: '"Incorporation does not exist": Contributions to the Brazilian Discourse of being "possessed".' At the conference of the European Association for Study of Religions, Budapest, Hungary

Former Research Projects

  • 05/2003 – 09/2004 Afro-Germans women
  • 10/2002 – 01/2003 Afro-Peru
  • 02/98, 09/98 – 01/99, 09/99 Caribbean New York
  • 08/1995 – 07/1996 Ecuador, Southern Sierra
  • 1991 - 1994 various field studies in Puerto Rico
  • 1986  Purhépecha in Mexico

Current Research Project

  • 02/2010 – 06/2010 The concept of incorporation (spirit possession) in Afro-Brazilian religions